March: Aquamarine and Bloodstone
by Decipher Philosophy
Summary: Steven meets an old friend of his mother, the Crystal Gem of the Sea: Aquamarine. And later meets her twin brother, the Crystal Gem of the Fates: Jasper (Bloodstone).


Aquamarine

Steven was playing tag with Lion at the beach. He was running while, well...Lion sat there. "Aw c'mon Lion! It's no fun if you don't try to catch me." Yet, the lion just stared at him.

Suddenly there was a giggle, "You must be Rose quartz's boy." Came a soothing sweet tone.

The little boy looked to the sound to see a woman standing in the water that was up to her waist. "Uhm...Do I know you?"

Steven swore to himself silently that he would've remembered a woman like her. She had light blue skin that was lighter than the sky when it was blue. She had wavy silky gray hair that reached to her shoulder blades. She was also kinda short. About five foot or more maybe. But what really attracted the boy's attention was her eyes. They were different colors. One was really really light blue while the other was really green.

For better detail, she had a healthy hourglass body with broad shoulders and strong arms. She happened to wear a bluish-green bikini top. When she smiled, it was kind but also gave her an air of mystery.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Her voice sounded very mature with a heavy yet somewhat light accent. Very hard to explain. Sounded like locals from an island maybe. Steven really liked hearing the islanders' accents when they'd visit and tell him funny stories when they have the time at town.

The woman walked out of the water and appeared to be wearing a white envelope skort with white flip flops that had mini yellow starfish on them. She introduced herself, "My name is Aquamarine, but you can call be Aqua or Rin for short. Everyone does."

"Uh...I'm Steven and it's really nice to meet you. Hey, what were you doing in the middle of the ocean?"

"I came here to see you and the other Crystal gems. They told me that they needed my help."

Then came out a shrill cry of joy. "Aquamarine! Is that you?! It's been so long!" Pearl ran over to her to give her a hug.

"How's it been girl?" Amethyst asked excitedly. "Been taking down the Lochness monster?"

"Nah, I helped her give birth. It was hard to find a place big enough for her." The woman responded.

Garnet placed a hand on her shoulder, "It's nice to see you, too. I'm glad you could come."

"Sounded serious when you used the conch shell I left for emergencies."

"Yes it is. The Sacred Manatee is ready to give birth, but wishes to do so in the ocean to the tropics where she was naturally first born through a journey. We hoped that you could either soothe her to stay within her containment or perhaps you are willing to guide her."

"I'll guide her. Poor woman needs something new and natural in her life. We can go now." The woman responded with absolute ease. It was as if the answer was all natural to her.

"Great!" Pearl cried out happily holding her hands. "I knew you would chose that! It kinda makes me a bit of a psychic, not that I am! Let's go! I prepared for the trip!"

"And I get to go!" Steven was all the more excited.

Garnet prepared the boat and Opal had bought a bag of things. Amethyst and Steven got on chilling at the back. As the boat moved, he noticed that Aquamarine wasn't on. He looked back at her who was standing at the dock.

She made a simple dive as her legs turned into a tail of a fish. It was the same color as her bikini top with a big yellow star on it. The boy's eyes widened the sight of his first mermaid. "You're a mermaid!"

"You bet she is!" Amethyst told him like it was obvious. "Listen here kid, you should obviously have the cream of what Rin's all about. She's the master of the sea. She guides the helpless to safety and beats up the bad guys with her awesome Triton."

The boy's eyes widened in awe as he imagined an epic scene between the new woman and a sea monster. "Really?" He was watching Garnet bring the Sacred Manatee into a spot of water that Aqua had prepared with the right temperature for the pregnant female to swim in with ease. The woman took out a jewel casket from the water to take out fresh aqua vegetation to feed the animal.

"She's exaggerating, Steven." Pearl told him. "Aquamarine is simply the crystal gem guardian of the sea who helps lost beings, and pregnant females or males find their way to a safe place. She only gets into fights when her opponents cannot be reasoned with."

"So she's kinda like a hero, too, huh?" The boy summed it up to his understanding.

"Yeah," Pearl responded accepting that version, "But Aquamarine is more than that. You did realize that she had different colored eyes right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well her right eye is where her gem is. It helps her see into the future. It's the whole reason she's always capable of helping those in need because she can predict accurately of where is the safest path. And if there isn't, she would use her Triton to control the movement and the weather of the ocean to allow there to be a safe passage. Isn't that amazing Steven?! Seeing into the future! If I could see in the future then I wouldn't need worried anymore if my plans would go bad or not!"

"Yeah, and I was exaggerating." The purple female scowled at the inequality.

"I think you're both accurate to a point." They then realized that Aqua had been swimming next to them.

"Oh dear! Did you hear that?" Pearl blushed covering her mouth and looking away embarrassingly.

The woman smirked with mirth, "Yes. Now if you two don't mind, I'd like to spend some quality time with Steven."

"With me?" The boy was extra happy to be picked specially.

The woman nodded. "Just follow me from below after you put this in your mouth. Chew but don't swallow." She placed a piece of purple gumball on his hand before disappearing beneath the murky water. The Sacred Manatee could still be seen since fresh water surrounded her.

Steven chewed the gumball quickly blowing a bubble until it popped. It suddenly dissolved in his mouth which he took as a cue to go. He dived in like a canon ball which accidentally got the other girls wet doing so. He told them a quick sorry before swimming downward.

He held his breath in the murky darkness before he felt the sides of his neck open and breath in air for him. He gasped through them and covered them for a moment to realize that he had gills!

Aqua pulled on his ankle to be by her. "Beautiful isn't it?"

Steven wondered what she meant, but then she plop in his mouth a piece of light pink hard candy. Suddenly his vision cleared up, and he could see everything. The different rock formations, and the other fishes and marine mammals that swam by.

"You see." She gave a proud smile of what she did for him. "To everyone else, the waters are dark and murky, but to me, it's as bright as day." She swam forward gracefully in spins and flips.

"Cool!" Steven gasped again when he realized that he could talk clearly in the water, too! "Hey!" He swam towards the woman, "You sound like you know Garnet and the others pretty well. Were you once in the team, too?"

"Not at all. Before the dawn of humans, the crystal gems had given themselves exclusive work. I gave myself the responsibility of the sea. My brother Jasper gave himself the responsibility of hope and fate."

"Your brother? Crystal gems can have siblings?"

"All the crystal gems are sort of siblings. But Jasper and I declared that we were twins. We are really close."

"And he's in charge of hope and fate?"

"Yup. He's considered scary at first sight, but he's really nice once he gets to know you." Steven thought that that should be the other way around but shrugged and continued to listen. "Y'know, your mother and I were really close, too. Not as close as Jasper and I were, but were like best friends as people of today put it."

"You knew my mother."

"Why wouldn't I? I'm older than you in thousands or possibly millions."

"Millions?!"

"That's right. Rose quartz wanted to expand her help throughout the universe while I preferred to stick with the sea. So she gathered the crystal gems who wanted to help her, and so she did. Didn't surprise me at all, when she had little you." She poked his nose.

"Were you not surprise because your psychic?"

"Yup. I can see every possibility."

"So you can see my future right?"

"Yes Steven. But I'm not gonna tell you it."

"Awwwe! Why not?!"

"Let me tell you in my simplest ways, but first," She went over to the Sacred Manatee. The jewel box appeared from light coming out of her right eye. She took out more aqua vegetation to feed the mother before going back to the boy who seemed to not have gotten tired of swimming for a while. "Listen Steven. Taking risk makes you better. If a person were to rely on someone like me to know what their every next move is, it would stop them from becoming better."

"But won't you be guiding them to be better?"

"There are dire situations where you need to rely on yourself and instincts and not hesitate just to hear what I have to say or else in that moment, you might make a permanent mistake you could have avoided if," She emphasized the last word with a finger up in front of the boy, "you had trusted yourself more instead of me."

"Oh, I ge-" Then the ground shook. This upset the Sacred Manatee. But in a split second, Aqua had her Triton out of her eye and extend to the bottom at a fast rate to stop the earthquake since she controlled the movement as well.

She smoothly had her jewel casket and threw it up towards the sacred Manatee to be put within it and placed in Garnet's hands right before storms formed.

Then from the cracks formed below, a molten giant squid unleashed itself before them. Reaching the surface that caused giant currents threatening their safety. The three crystal guardians above braced themselves when a tsunami headed towards them.

Yet, they had nothing to fear when Aqua had a cyclone of water bring her up high to meet eye to eye with the giant squid. She rose her Triton up having the waves stop and reverse back towards the squid having the lava creature meet a rocky end.

The woman had a whirlpool appear beneath the rock creature to be sucked back down to where it belong and then repair the crack from it coming out again.

Now everything was in peace. Garnet opened the jewel casket for the Sacred Manatee to come out again, but nobody came out.

Aqua checked inside the box, and giggled. "It seems our traveler prefers to just sit a voyage after all. So let's hurry up this sail." The woman rose her Triton and a great gush of wind blew them to their designated area which was a tropical island with a fresh, clean and warm estuary filled with a lot of aquatic vegetation to be the best place for the Sacred Manatee to give birth among other Manatees safely protected from endangerment.

"Looks like it's a job well done." Aqua said with her usual calming voice.

"It is." Garnet said simply with a smile.

"Oh, but that means that we'll be not seeing each other for while now." Pearl pointed out sadly.

"Pearl," She placed a hand on her shoulder, "You're all doing great. Rose Quartz would've been proud of all of you."

Those words bought tears to Pearl's eyes. She hugged the woman tightly before Garnet gently pulled her away.

Amethyst smirked cooly at the woman. "Gonna miss you Rin. But I get the feeling we'll see each other in no time."

"Like always." The two shared a fist bump, and then a real hug.

"It was nice seeing you girl." The purple girl added.

"I'll call you only when we have a true emergency again." Garnet told her promisingly.

"And I look forward to it. It was nice seeing you, too, Garnet." Aqua hugged her, and then faced Steven, "Now Steven, I have something private to tell you."

"Oh dear, it's a fortune!" Pearl said excitingly as the two walked away from hearing range.

"So what did you wanna talk about?" Steven asked. "Is it my fortune?"

"Actually, no." The sea woman crouched down to him to be at eye level. "I'm going to tell you something much more useful." She cleared her throat. "Steven, children are the world's future. Each and every one counts including you. From when they're born to when they become old and die, they are always important. Even the ones you don't like. It's just a matter of believing. So Steven, no matter how hard life becomes or pull you down, never stop believing that you can do something important. You can do amazing things when you do."

The child got the gist of her words. "Really?"

Aqua nodded. "Yeah."

"Wow. So I should believe harder?"

"No. You're already amazing and important the way you are. Just that when things do look harder, believe harder. But not too hard that you start having an aneurysm. Okay Steven?"

"Yeah, I get you." he nodded confirming that he did. "Oh, I've been meaning to ask. Do you mind telling me how to make my crystal gem work? You can see into the future right? Garnet and the others tried to help me, but I only got it to work a few times without really meaning to. So do you know?"

"Hmmm?" The woman stood up and put a thoughtful finger to her bottom lip. "I guess I could give you a hint."

"Oh boy! I love hints!" The child bounced for joy.

"It's simple. Just be yourself."

"Huh?"

"Steven, the reason why those few moment with your gem happen because you were in complete sync with who you are and what you truly needed. You're young and still discovering yourself like the other Crystal gems including your mother did. But trust me. What I see in the future, the moment when you are in complete synce with yourself, it would be one of the best moments of your life."

"You promise?"

"I promise." She gave a reassuring smile that enlightened the boy's heart to look forward to it.

So that was Steven's first time with Aquamarine before she had to leave to attend to other work.

But before she walked back into the water, Steven asked, "Wait, how do you take care of the ocean when it's so big. It like covers almost the entire Earth." The water did cover 97% of the Earth.

The woman replied over her shoulder with the sunset before her giving her a pretty shadow over her face, "I multiply silly. You might be able to do that, too, someday. Bye everyone." She turned around giving her last wave before turning into a mermaid and swimming away.

"Wow, she's so cool!" Steven commented. "And really calm."

"That's my girl Rin." Amethyst said.

"So Steven," Pearl asked excitingly, "What did Aquamarine tell you?"

But Garnet interjected, "That's only for Steven to know. Right now we should go home."

Pearl reluctantly agreed, "You're right. Let's go home."


End file.
